91Ô­´´

Biography

Rachael Hutchinson is the Elias Ahuja Professor in Japanese Studies and Game Studies at the 91Ô­´´, and she is currently serving as the interim chair for the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures. She received her D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 2000, and her research addresses representations of Japanese identity in a range of narrative texts – literature, film, manga and videogames. Her major publications areÌýNagai KafÅ«'s Occidentalism: Defining the Japanese SelfÌý(author, SUNY Press 2011),ÌýRepresenting the Other in Modern Japanese Literature: A Critical ApproachÌý(co-editor, Routledge 2007),ÌýNegotiating Censorship in Modern JapanÌý(editor, Routledge 2013), andÌýThe Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese LiteratureÌý(co-editor, Routledge 2016). She has published essays in journals such asÌýGame Studies,ÌýJapan Forum,ÌýMonumenta Nipponica,ÌýJapanese Studies,ÌýWell Played, Loading, andÌýGames and Culture, contributing various chapters to books on Japanese games, manga, literature and film. Her most recent monograph isÌýJapanese Culture Through VideogamesÌý(Routledge, 2019), nominated for the John Whitney Hall Book Prize at the Association for Asian Studies, and featured on the podcasts 'Meiji at 150' and 'Japan Station.' She also co-editedÌýJapanese Role-Playing Games: Genre, Representation and Liminality in the JRPGÌýwith Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon (Lexington, 2022). She is currently editingÌýThe Handbook of Japanese Games and GameplayÌýfor Japan Documents Press and Amsterdam University Press.ÌýRachael believes passionately in undergraduate research and writing, incorporating writing and presentation skills in all her courses. She teaches advanced Japanese language, reading and translation, as well as culture courses such as 'Issues in Japanese Film,' 'Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature,' 'Videogames and Japanese Culture.' Her students have presented academic papers at such prestigious conferences as the GEIS Student Research on Women conference (2010), the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies conference (2013, 2017, 2019) and the Greater Philadelphia Asian Studies Consortium (2014). Rachael has served as faculty liaison to the Japanese National Honor Society on campus as well as advisor to the 91Ô­´´ Anime and Manga Club, the Kendo Club, Aikido Club, Genshiken and the 91Ô­´´ Video Game Tournament Club.

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Grants

In 2007 Rachael Hutchinson received a small Title VI grant to purchase materials for the course ‘Japanese Visual Culture,’ including two Playstation consoles and twelve game texts. The consoles formed theÌýbasis of our significant holdings in gaming hardware in the Morris Library. The gameÌýtitlesÌýbecame the core texts for the course 'Japanese Visual Culture' in 2009, later expanded into the games-only course 'Videogames and Japanese Culture.’

As co-founder of the 91Ô­´´ Game Studies Research Group, Rachael received a grant from the IHRC in 2013–2014 to further Game Studies on campus, through interfaculty collaboration as well as course development and expansion of library holdings. This grant funded a trip to Albuquerque for the Southwest Popular Culture Association conference in February 2015, where Rachael chaired and organized the roundtable ‘Connections and Directions: Establishing a Game Studies Research Group at the 91Ô­´´,’ with participants Daniel Chester (Computer Science and Informatics), Troy Richards (Art), Julie Dee (Communication), Phill Penix-Tadsen (DLLC) and Meghann Matwichuk (Morris Library). Troy later travelled to UCLA to help brainstorm ideas with faculty there, while Rachael participated in a further pedagogical symposium at Harvard for faculty interested in using game texts in courses.

In 2016 Rachael was awarded The Mae and Robert Carter Endowment Women’s Studies Faculty Research Award from the Department of Women and Gender Studies at the 91Ô­´´. Funding covered conference travel and purchase of research materials, including a PlayStation Portable console and online subscription to the war game Kantai Collection. Dissemination included the public campus lecture ‘Representations of Women in Japanese War-themed Videogames’ in October 17 and the publication ‘The Body Political: Kantai Collection Media and WWII Enactment,’ in The Representation of Japanese Politics in Manga, ed. Roman Rosenbaum (Routledge 2020).

Rachael was recently named as one of the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Fellows for 2023-2025 with the project ‘Translating Japanese Videogame Theory.’ This ambitious project undertakes the translation of ten major essays of Japanese games scholarship, to widen accessibility and broaden the discipline of Game Studies. Funding will cover licensing fees, conference presentations, visiting speakers and an on-site translation workshop at 91Ô­´´ involving not only the editors and translators but also students from advanced courses in Japanese translation and Game Studies & eSports.

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Degrees

• D.Phil. Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, 2000
• B.A.Hon. History and Japanese, University of Newcastle, Australia, 1995
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Publications

For a comprehensive view of Rachael's publications, visit her Academia profile page in Resources and Links.

Hutchinson, R. (2013).Ìý.Ìý

Hutchinson, R. (2019).Ìý.Ìý

Hutchinson, R. (Ed.). (2022).Ìý.ÌýAsian Studies Review,Ìý48(3), 664–666.Ìý

Hutchinson, R., & Williams, M. B. (2006).Ìý.Ìý

. (2016). In R. Hutchinson & L. D. Morton (Eds.),ÌýRoutledge eBooks.Ìý